- Pub. Date: June 11, 2013
- Publisher:Delacorte Press
- Pages:320
- Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository
Lala: She and her Gypsy family earn money by telling fortunes. Some customers choose Tarot cards; others have their palms read. The thousands of people attending the nearby Burning Man festival spend lots of cash--especially as Lala gives uncanny readings. But lately Lala's been questioning whether there might be more to life than her upcoming arranged marriage. And the day she reads Ben's cards is the day that everything changes for her. . . and for him.
First Line: Pete, Hog Boy, and I were spending Monday afternoon screwing around on our skateboards on the shipping dock at the deserted drywall plant.
Review: I really wanted to love this one, I mean check out that cover what's not to love about it which of course was my first mistake for judging a book by its cover something I said I would work on this year and obviously I'm still working on it. Anyways besides the cover the blurb had me interested but it just didn't end up being what I expected.
Lala comes from a traditional gypsy family and is set to be married soon, while we have Ben whose town Gypsum,NV is closing down and he is set to go off to college. Anyways there is a festival called The Burning Man going on and Lala and her family are earning some extra money by telling fortunes on the side of the road, which is how she meets Ben.
What was the biggest downfall for me when it came to Burning was the romance between Ben and Lala. It was a big insta-love fest and not realistic at all. The book was in both Lala and Ben's point of view which I'm always a fan of that but what bugged me was I felt their povs was on repeat. Every time we were in Lala's pov all she did was contemplate on was leaving her traditional ways and thinking about Ben, and every time we were in Ben's pov it was about him coming to terms with his brother being gay, feeling a little guilty for going off to college when all his friends are still stuck and daydreaming about Lala.
One thing I did like was all the new things I learned about the Gypsy culture I found that aspect of the novel very interesting and clearly the author did an awesome job doing the research. Another thing I'm not sure I can say I loved but it was different then the norm was the ending, I didn't expect it and at first I was kind of annoyed but the more I reflected on it after finishing it the more I grew to like the ending.
Overall Burning just wasn't for me.
Lala comes from a traditional gypsy family and is set to be married soon, while we have Ben whose town Gypsum,NV is closing down and he is set to go off to college. Anyways there is a festival called The Burning Man going on and Lala and her family are earning some extra money by telling fortunes on the side of the road, which is how she meets Ben.
What was the biggest downfall for me when it came to Burning was the romance between Ben and Lala. It was a big insta-love fest and not realistic at all. The book was in both Lala and Ben's point of view which I'm always a fan of that but what bugged me was I felt their povs was on repeat. Every time we were in Lala's pov all she did was contemplate on was leaving her traditional ways and thinking about Ben, and every time we were in Ben's pov it was about him coming to terms with his brother being gay, feeling a little guilty for going off to college when all his friends are still stuck and daydreaming about Lala.
One thing I did like was all the new things I learned about the Gypsy culture I found that aspect of the novel very interesting and clearly the author did an awesome job doing the research. Another thing I'm not sure I can say I loved but it was different then the norm was the ending, I didn't expect it and at first I was kind of annoyed but the more I reflected on it after finishing it the more I grew to like the ending.
Overall Burning just wasn't for me.
